Come up, come out
by mortykins
Summary: Tails gets roughed up really badly and runs to Knuckles.  Many words are said and actions done, ending in a comforted fox and a content echidna.


I do not own Sonic, Sega does. Also, this is light boy love. If you don't like that sort of thing, don't read. If you read anyway, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. *smiles* anyways, enjoy!

Also, in this world, Tails is 17, where Knuckles, Sonic, and Shadow are all 18.

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><p>The green glow of the emerald was the only light that filled the room as Knuckles tried to sleep. Every once in a while, the white flash of lightning permeated the green shaded room. Knuckles loved lying in bed during a storm. It made him feel emotionally balanced<em>, <em>made everything seem okay. As he listened to the most recent thunder clap, he heard a peculiar noise. It sounded like a plane engine.

"Who would be flying up here? Especially during a storm." Knuckles sat up.

As the engine grew louder, he got up to look through the window. A blue plane was in the distance, coming closer.

"The Tornado? Tails? What does he need? It's 2 am!"

Tails flew in and landed in the clearing next to Knuckles' mountainside dwelling. The young fox hopped out of the aircraft as Knuckles made his way down to the door to let the soaked boy in. Knuckles was alarmed at Tails' dark choice of attire, a contrast to his typically bright and cheery attire that fit his personality. _Something isn't right. On many levels. Why is he here and not with Sonic? Unless…he had a fight with Sonic? _

"Is everything okay, Tails?" Knuckles touched his shoulder, only to be surprised: the boy was shaking. "Tails? What's wrong?" The fox said nothing; he only took a step forward and laid his head heavily against Knuckles' shoulder.

"I didn't know who else to go to," he finally squeaked out under his breath.

Knuckles couldn't figure out what to do. He had never been good with dealing with others at all, let alone _console_ them. All he could think to do was wrap his arms tight around the fox and pull him in tightly. They just stood there, trying to figure out what to do next. He felt Tails move his hands to grip his t-shirt, and move his body in closer. Knuckles could feel the faint sobs emitting from the smaller boy. When Tails quieted down a bit, Knuckles had an idea.

"Hey, come on. I'll make some hot chocolate. That should make you feel a little better…and warmer."

He grabbed Tails' hand and led him to the kitchen where Knuckles plopped him down on one of the chairs. Tails sat there in silence, looking down at his hands as he fiddled with them in his lap. Knuckles started collecting the ingredients and mugs for the hot chocolate, every once in a while glancing over at the boy.

"Knuckles," the boy squeaked, "Please don't tell Sonic or Amy I'm here. They don't know that I took the Tornado, or that I even left."

Knuckles paused and thought for a little bit. "Did you get into a fight with Sonic?"

"No! It was nothing like that…it's just…I don't want him to worry. And I kind of…don't want him to know…"

"Know about what?" Tails went silent. _Still not comfortable telling me? You are the one who ran to me…_ Knuckles thought. The water finished heating up. Knuckles prepared the hot chocolate and brought the two mugs to the table, setting one down in front of Tails and taking the seat next to him. He only wrapped his hands around the warm mug and sat there in silence.

After a few moments, Tails began to speak. "Knuckles," he asked, "How did you know that…you…liked guys?" Knuckles was slightly shocked at the young boys question. "I mean, how…did you deal with it at first?"

Knuckles processed where this conversation was going. "Tails, are you…"

He seemed to understand what Knuckles was asking. "I-I don't know…" His voice cracked a little, as if he was about to cry again. He swallowed before speaking again. "I mean, did people see that you were gay before you realized it?" Knuckles' mind started to put things together. Tails coming to him in the first place, his strange apparel, the weird questions, the shaking hands. He moved his hand to Tails' hood and gently pulled it down. His eyes went wide at the sight of the large bruise surrounding the fox's eye. In the corner of his own eye, he saw Tails move his arm to pull down the sleeve on his other arm.

"Tails," Knuckles began, "Who did this to you?"

"I…I think it was Shadow…but I don't know. He always seemed to be fine around you…"

"That's cause he knew that I could take him down in an instant."

"Wait, 'he knew'? As in, he tried to fight you?" Tails looked Knuckles in the face for the first time that night. Knuckles could see the pain in his light blue eyes.

"When I first came out, he confronted me about it. He got in my face and I knocked him around a bit, not enough to really hurt him, but enough for him to get the message that I still hit hard. I never mentioned it to Sonic. I should have, looking back. What exactly did he do…say to you."

"The first thing he said was along the lines of him not liking the way I 'looked' at Sonic. He used some sort of reverse psychology to get the fact that I liked a boy out of me and that's when he started to get in my face…" His grip on his own arm tightened a bit, rubbing his hand back and forth. Knuckles laid a hand gently on Tails' hand.

"What did he do to your arm?" Tails simply stared at the cooling mug in front of him, as he pulled up the sleeve of the sweatshirt.

Every emotion from sadness to anger ran through Knuckles' mind at the sight of the bandage on Tails' arm.

"He pulled a knife on me, right before I got away from him."

"That little—!" Knuckles made to get up angrily, but he was stopped short by Tails standing and his hand grabbing onto his arm.

"Knuckles, please stay with me right now…I can't…I don't want to be alone." His blue eyes were glassy as if he were about to cry.

Knuckles' expression softened at Tails' actions. He pulled him into a tight hug. "I won't leave you alone, I promise," he whispered softly into Tails' ear. Tails pushed his arms up from between them and wrapped them around the fighter's neck.

Knuckles pulled back slightly to run his thumb over the fox's dark, black eye. He briefly looked into those sharp, blue eyes and got lost for a moment, leaning in to capture the soft, inviting lips. He felt Tails stiffen, but respond to the kiss cautiously. He moved his hand down to Tail's neck and tangled his fingers in the golden hair, pressing a little more into the kiss.

Knuckles realized what he was doing and broke the kiss. "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me…" He moved to collect the mugs and bring them to the sink.

As Knuckles began to clean the mugs, Tails slumped back down into his chair, moving his hands to his lips. He still felt the tingle of Knuckles' lips on his. _ The feel of his lips. He-he kissed me…for real. It wasn't a dream…_ Tails thought to himself.

Knuckles' voice brought him back to reality. "You said that Shadow got you to say that you liked someone. Who-Who do you like?"

Silence.

More silence.

_Shoot! He hates me now. _Knuckles thought. He turned around to look at Tails, who was just staring at the floor with his fingers to his mouth.

Tails finally mumbled an answer: "You."

Knuckles processed this new tidbit of information for a few seconds. He didn't know what to say; his mind wanted him to scream, "I like you too," and be happily romantic forever, but Knuckles knew he couldn't do that. He gave up with a sigh and walked forward and stood in front of the fox.

"Knuckles, I—" Tails began to stutter, but was interrupted by Knuckles grabbing his hand and pulling him up into a hug.

"If my kiss earlier didn't make you realize, I like you too." He whispered in Tails' ear. "I've liked you for awhile, but I never said anything because I didn't think you were into guys." He pulled away from the hug slightly.

"I took a liking to you a while back but didn't think anything of it, cause I still liked girls, or at least I thought I still liked girls. Until Shadow pointed it out…" Tails buried his head into Knuckles' neck.

"Don't worry, Shadow won't come near you if he knows you're with me. He's too scared to damage his pretty little face." This brought a chuckle out of the younger boy, the first bright mood of the evening. "And Sonic is protective of you. He doesn't like seeing things happen to you, we've had many talks about it."

"Wait…what?" Tails was curious now, raising his head to give Knuckles a confused look. _Sonic talks about me…worries about me? He never shows it._ He thought.

"Whenever something happens to you, usually involving some invention and stupid people, he runs ranting to me about how you are too stubborn to let him deal with said stupid people. He knows you're strong and don't let most people get to you, but he worries that one day it is going to get to you, and he wants to be there when it does happen, so he can help you."

Tails paused and thought for a minute. He never noticed how much Sonic cared about him. "He never showed any sort of protectiveness over me…he always was a good friend to me."

"I think that he views you like a little brother who needs to be protected from the shadows…no pun intended…" Both Knuckles and Tails laughed at that one.

Tails' laugh died down to a chuckle as he laid his head heavily on Knuckles' shoulder. "You tired?" Knuckles asked.

Tails' simply gave an incoherent "Yeah."

"Come on then, it's like, 3 am. We need to sleep."

Knuckles grabbed Tail's hand and led him to the stairs. They made their way up to Knuckles' bedroom, as Tails let out a massive yawn.

"You can sleep here, I'll sleep down on the couch."

"No," Tails grabbed onto Knuckles' shirt. "Please don't leave me alone tonight. I still feel shaky and a little anxious…"

Knuckles let out a sigh and pulled Tails into a hug. "Okay. I'll stay up here with you. But let's get you into comfier clothes first." Knuckles went and pulled out some extra sleep clothes for the young fox. "Here, I'll go and get some extra pillows. I'll be right back."

As soon as Knuckles left the room, Tails changed into the night clothes and sat on the middle of the bed. Knuckles walked back in and threw a pillow at the unsuspecting fox, hitting him in the back of the head. Tails let out a squeak of surprise, grabbing the pillow and made to throw it back at Knuckles, only to be hit with another. Before Tails could react to the second pillow, Knuckles tackled him to the bed.

"You need to laugh a little. I like the happy, laughing fox a little more than the brooding one." Tails let out a giggle at the actions.

"Ok, ok. Watch my arm though! It still hurts." Knuckles saw that he had grabbed Tails' arm at the wrist, just above the wound Shadow had left him. He moved his hand up to Tails', entwining their fingers together. He bent down and laid a soft kiss on the bandage, before moving over to plant kiss on the purpling eye, then to kiss the fox once more. This kiss was more passionate and sweeter than the last.

Tails was the one to break the kiss. "Shouldn't we be sleeping?"

Knuckles smiled and sat up. Tails followed suit as Knuckles pulled down the sheets. Tails leaned over the side of the bed to retrieve the abused pillows before crawling under the covers. Knuckles wormed his way under while pulling the sheets around them. Tails squeaked when an arm snaked around his waist, pulling him closer. He felt the younger boy shiver when he placed his lip on his neck for a goodnight kiss.

"Good night ,Tails. Try to sleep please?"

"I would if you'd stop talking…" Tails said with a yawn.

"Hmf" was Knuckles' only reply before the two drifted off into sleep.

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><p>Morty here! So, I had to write it cause it was stuck in my brain, yelling to be let out. It was also inspired by Night Kitten's work, "He came to me first". It was sweet and inspirational. Go find it! The fact that I had been playing Sonic Adventure DX: Directors Cut for about a week didn't help with the mind takeover of this sweet story. Any whozits, Warfang also reviewed this one for me, along with my roommate. they are both awesome!<p> 


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